This time... they were ridiculously wrong! By relying on this technique, they could indeed corrode and melt away even a Void-level fiendgod, and even ordinary Celestial Immortal Patriarchs would perish to this technique. Unfortunately...the person trapped within the Ba-Serpent Hell was Ji Ning. Ji Ning, who had reached the Third Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]! Ji Ning’s flesh was comparable to Immortal-ranked magic treasures. Although their Ba-Serpent Hell technique was very corrosive, there was no way it could corrode Immortal-ranked magic treasures! “I can’t just let myself remain trapped in here. I have to get out.” Ning executed the [Heavenly Transformations], causing his body to expand enormously. The bloody lake was now only able to reach Ning’s kneecaps. Six Immortal swords in his hands, Ning began to wildly and wantonly hack away at the stomach-walls of the Ba-Serpent. Bang! Bang! Bang! The Ba-Serpent was trembling. “This guy didn’t die yet?” “How can this be?” “How could it be that the Ba-Serpent Hell is unable to kill him?!” The twelve were all stunned. They hurriedly sent out their divine senses to investigate, and as they did, they discovered...that there was an enormous three-headed, six-armed youth who was standing in the middle of the bloody lake, whose fur-clad body was glowing with a hazy golden light. The bloody lakewater was completely unable to harm him at all. The giant was even wildly hacking away at the stomach-walls of the Ba-Serpent, each strike containing enormous power. Given that the surging waves of the Nightriver filled every part of the Ba-Serpent, crushing down upon it...the twelve white-robed figures were using up elemental ki at an enormously fast rate in order to maintain the Ba-Serpent. “This kid has trained for less than a century; he’s merely a Void-level Earth Immortal. How is it possible that he can withstand the Ba-Serpent Hell?” None of them could believe it. This was something which they had executed only after paying a heavy price, damaging their Goldlotus Primals. They were confident that this would definitely succeed...but who would’ve expected that the end result would be failure? “It must be that golden light on his body! That golden light...it must be the aura of a protective magic treasure. It’s precisely because of that magic treasure that he’s able to resist the Ba-Serpent Hell!” “Right. He’s probably taken on a True Immortal or Empyrean God as his master; he must’ve been given a protective treasure.” “That must be it.” “Protective treasures won’t be able to be maintained for too long. After its energy is used up, this Ji Ning shall die for certain.” Their level of experience was limited, after all; although they knew some of the powerful divine abilities of the Three Realms could allow one’s body to become comparable to magic treasures, Ji Ning was only at the fifteenth stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. They felt that even if Ning trained in protective divine abilities such as the [Pentabolt Vajra], there was no way he could use them to resist their Ba-Serpent Hell. Thus, they guessed that it must be a protective treasure. A protective treasure bestowed by a True Immortal or Empyrean God...upon being activated, it could protect the bearer for a time, but once the energy and power within it was used up, it would become useless. “But we are only going to be able to sustain the Ba-Serpent Hell via our forbidden technique for the time needed to boil a kettle of tea.” “If the power of Ji Ning’s protective treasure is used up, then we’ll have won. But if the Ba-Serpent Hell is dispersed first...are we supposed to use the forbidden technique again?!” “Captain, what should we do next?” The others were all awaiting the captain’s order. None of them wanted to use the forbidden technique again. “Disciples with backers and sects behind him are always difficult,” the white-robed man muttered back mentally. “There’s nothing we can. Carry out the backup plan.” “Fine.” “Let’s do it.” They all immediately acknowledged the order. This ‘backup plan’ was to borrow strength from another party...but as a result, the rewards they would get for killing Ji Ning would have to be divided up as well. ...... The Whitewater Hound used the Fuxi Staff Formation to tremendously powerful effect. The Ba-Serpent might be able to forcibly break through and threaten his formations, but the leader of the Blood God Church, the Scion of the Blood God, was hidden within that black warship; he wasn’t willing to go all-out, and so he definitely wasn’t able to break open the formation. Uncle White and Immortal Fivecraze watched the outside world with worry. High in the air, a giant river was twisting and coiling around an unfathomably powerful Ba-Serpent. The Ba-Serpent was struggling and roaring with rage. “Break apart!” The Ba-Serpent spoke out in the human tongue, then let out another enraged roar as its tail struck out hard. Rumble... Space itself was torn apart, and on the other side a sea could vaguely be seen. It must be understood that this minor world was very close to the Grand Xia major world. The entrance to the volcano was a stable corridor between worlds, but some sufficiently powerful experts were absolutely capable of opening a corridor through their own power. For example, Patriarch Arcanum had done just that in ripping a tunnel into the world of the Witchriver Immortal Estate. This strike by the Ba-Serpent was absolutely comparable to a blow from Patriarch Arcanum. Swoosh. After ripping apart the fabric of space...although the Ba-Serpent remained entangled within the Nightriver, it charged into the spatial tear and returned to the world of the Grand Xia. The minor world grew quiet. “They are gone?” “They disappeared?” Uncle White and Immortal Fivecraze were all quite flabbergasted. They hadn’t expected that the enemy would tear open the fabric of space and depart from this minor world. They both looked with concern towards the black-robed Ning, who was fairly close to them. It must be understood that it was Ning’s true body that had just been taken away! His true body was far more important than his Primaltwin. “Ji Ning,” Immortal Fivecraze said. “No need to worry about me.” The black-robed Ning shook his head, then sat down in the lotus position, quietly protecting his master, Immortal Diancai. No matter what, he absolutely wouldn’t permit anyone from disturbing his master’s tribulation. His Primaltwin had to stay here and protect his master! As for his true body...his true body had the underwater estate. If he truly did encounter a life-threatening situation, he could go ahead and hide into it, even though that meant revealing the existence of the estate. After all, his true body was very important; only his true body was capable of executing techniques such as the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and the [Starseizing Hand]. The air above the Darknorth Sea. The vast sea was incomparably quiet. From far away, one could see a ship advancing through the seas, a merchant vessel from a surrounding island. Rumble... The air above the sea split apart, and an enormous monstrosity came hurtling through the spatial tear. It was an enormous serpent that was three thousand meters long. Its body was entangled by a surging river which coiled around it like a rope. “What’s that?!” “Good heavens!” “A Diremonster?!” The many mortals who were aboard that merchant vessel, as well as a few ‘powerful’ Xiantian experts, all stared in stupefecation. However, with but a single movement, that massive, three kilometer serpent disappeared into the horizon. ...... Ning was able to clearly sense what was going on outside, thanks to the Nightriver which the Thousandbull Sword had created. “Eh? We’re at the world of the Grand Xia? And this should be the Darknorth Sea,” Ning guessed to himself. At the same time, he continued to wildly brandish his six swords, hacking and slashing at the stomach of the Ba-Serpent. The Ba-Serpent trembled repeatedly as the elemental ki of the twelve white-robed figures was used up at a rapid pace. They were forced to take out some spirit-pills and swallow them to replenish their energy. Swoosh. The Ba-Serpent easily used a spatial teleportation, arriving at the air above a wide mountain range located within the vast continent of the Grand Xia Dynasty. “A mountain range? This is the place the Ba-Serpent’s spatial teleportation took it to?” Ning mused to himself, still trapped within the Ba-Serpent’s body. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 Instantly, the incomparably imposing waters of the Nightriver began to expand wildly, from ten kilometers to its normal ten thousand kilometer size! The endless amounts of river water instantly filled the mountain range below. However, Ning remained quite careful; he didn’t wish to let the waters of the Nightriver harm any mortals by accident. He mainly wanted to test the surrounding environment. “Formations!” Ning was shocked by what he discovered. A fog had instantly appeared within the great mountain range, completely ensconcing the Nightriver within it. “Not good. We’re trapped within a formation. My ten thousand kilometer Nightriver is only able to test a small portion of this formation; clearly, this is an absolutely enormous formation. It seems this mountain range must be a secret base.” Ning realized that this must be a place like his own homeland, Swallow Mountain, which was now protected by layers of grand formations. Powers such as the Skysplitter Sword Sect, for example, all had many great formations protecting their headquarters. It was the same principle. The mountain range which this Ba-Serpent had descended into was assuredly a similarly dangerous place. ...... Grand Xia Dynasty. Flamedoor Commandery. The Eastwoods mountain range. The Eastwoods mountain range was the location of a sect known as the Eastwoods Sect! “General.” The leader of the Eastwoods Sect spoke with incomparable respect. “A Ba-Serpent has suddenly appeared within the Eastwoods mountain range, and around it is a river that is ten thousand kilometers long. It is extremely powerful. Are these the people from Bloodcloud Hall which you previously mentioned, general?” At the front of the hall was seated a tall, muscular, handsome, silver-armored youth. The silver-armored youth’s aura was very powerful, at the Celestial Immortal level. “It seems those useless pieces of crap at Bloodcloud Hall were unable to kill Ji Ning, so they brought him here to my place,” the silver-armored youth laughed disdainfully. “They weren’t even able to kill a kid like Ji Ning, who has trained for less than a century. How embarrassing! Mm...sect leader of the Eastwoods Sect, this is your territory. You go ahead and control the grand formation to help the Ba-Serpent and deal with Ji Ning.” The sect leader of the Eastwoods Sect said respectfully, “Yes, General.” In his heart, however, he was sighing. He was the sect leader of a supreme sect, but over the course of a single night thirty years ago, the entire Eastwoods Sect had become completely ‘brainwashed’. Even he himself was sealed with a Reincarnation Seal and forced to become an obedient servant. “Big Han,” the silver-armored youth suddenly called out. Whoosh. A shadow materialized within the darkness; it was a a man with sideburns. He said with tremendous respect, “Master.” The silver-armored youth said, “Bloodcloud Hall sent people to assassinate Ji Ning. They agreed with me before doing so that if they were unable to do anything to Ji Ning, that they would come here to the Eastwoods mountain range...and just a short while ago, the forces of Bloodcloud Hall used their ‘Ba-Serpent Formation’ to bring Ji Ning here. Accompany the sect leader of the Eastwoods Sect; when the time comes, you can act to help.” “Yes,” the sideburned middle-aged man said with respect. “Mm. I’m going to go take a look in the ‘forbidden area’. If there’s nothing critical, don’t bother me,” the silver-armored youth instructed. “Yes,” the sideburned man repeated once more. The leader of the Eastwoods Sect assented as well, but in his heart he felt puzzled. Ever since this mysterious power had descended thirty-plus years ago and took over the entire Eastwoods Sect, they had first set down increasingly, terrifyingly powerful formations around the mountains, then had designated one particular region within it as a ‘forbidden region’. The original members of the Eastwoods Sect were completely forbidden from entering the region; if they did, they would definitely die! Only the silver-armored general and his subordinates were able to enter that place. As for what was within it? Not even the leader of the Eastwoods Sect knew. Rumble... The flows of the distant Nightriver were still furiously smashing downwards, crushing some nearby mountains and shattering giant trees. The Ba-Serpent continued to struggle to escape from the confines of the Nightriver. “Come with me, leader of the Eastwoods Sect.” The face of the sideburned man changed, and he let out a sharp bark as he led the leader of the Eastwoods Sect away to go help the forces of Bloodcloud Hall. The silver-armored general stared towards the distance, then shook his head. “This Ji Ning is actually this hard to kill...he truly lives up to his reputation as the champion of the Conclave of Immortal Destiny.” He took a single step forward, then vanished. He was going to the forbidden region.